The Professional

The Professional, also known as Léon: The Professional, is an alarming and captivating piece of cinematic art produced by Luc Besson in 1994, starring Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, and a youthful Natalie Portman in her stunning debut.

A film that seamlessly combines elements of crime drama, thriller and coming-of-age narratives, The Professional very much rests on its strong character development. Jean Reno stars as the titular professional, Leon, a reserved and taciturn contract killer who resides in New York City's Little Italy. Reno expertly delivers a nuanced performance, portraying Leon not as a cold-blooded hitman, but as a man with a deeply ingrained moral compass and an unexpectedly soft heart.

Leon's life orbits around solitude and routine until he fortuitously befriends Mathilda, a twelve-year-old girl, portrayed with uncommon depth and maturity by a breakout Natalie Portman. Mathilda resides in the same dilapidated apartment complex as Leon, with seemingly nothing in common with him–until fate decrees otherwise. When circumstances thrust her into Leon's secluded world, the seasoned professional and precocious youngster form an unusual and powerful bond, delivering an unconventional coming-of-age story. Their relationship complexity evolves over the course of the film, movingly highlighting their mutual need and the humanity that connects people across their experiences and their professions.

Gary Oldman delivers an electrifying performance as the corrupt, volatile DEA agent Norman Stansfield. His terrifying interpretation of Stansfield is both unpredictable and deeply unsettling, creating a threatening presence that looms throughout the film. Oldman’s brilliant acting ability is natural and effortless and reinforces an underlying tension experienced by the protagonists.

The Professional is a masterwork of visual storytelling, marked by creative cinematography that yields a unique sense of place and starkly contrasted environments. From Leon's dimly lit, quiet apartment to the grimy urban landscape outside it, Besson paints a picture of two worlds colliding against the backdrop of New York City. Director Luc Besson elegantly handles the blending of gritty, darker scenes with moments of tenderness and novel enlightenment between the two main characters.

The distinctive sound design and score of the film are equally as captivating, interspersed with silencing suspense and heart-pounding action sequences. These elements impeccably come together to add weight to the film's emotive quality.

The film manages an intricate balance, dealing with profound themes such as innocence and lost childhood, love and moral ambiguity, redemption and retribution in a compassionate and sensitive way. With its profound narrative density, The Professional is more than just its immediate story, a deeper exploration of characters who are often sidelined and stereotyped; it's about how unlikely bonds shape us, how circumstances define us, and how love can be discovered in the most unexpected places.

Regardless of its elements of violence and grim drama, the plot of The Professional is interspersed with scenes of regular daily life that show the ordinariness of its characters caught up in extraordinary situations. It's a classic illustration of the fragile line that separates good and evil where the characters' motives and actions are neither black nor white, but shades of grey. The film is an ode to life's complexities, the consequences of choices and the vital awareness of consequences.

In all its thrilling complexity and character depth, The Professional is an unforgettable phenomenon of the 90s cinema that has stood the test of time and shows the early potential of all its leading actors. It uniquely blends the elements of a thriller, action-packed sequences with poignant and deep relationships, ultimately unravelling the bewildering and unpredictable nature of human connections.